Does this sound like CPU death to you?

fuzzybabybunny

Moderator<br>Digital & Video Cameras
Moderator
Jan 2, 2006
10,455
35
91
Q6600
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
8GB Corsair DDR2
7900GT

So my PC has been pretty messed up. Today while I was just browsing the web it locked up on me, so I restarted, and the power cycles on and off. It turns on, things spin up, but suddenly there's a loss of power before the monitors can even display anything, everything shuts off, it turns on again by itself, spins up, loss of power, cycle repeats.

I initially thought that it was a PSU issue - I have a 700W Fortron, but it's getting a bit old, so I went out and bought a 750W Corsair. The same power cycle problem still happens.

Now I get freezes in BIOS and the OS when I'm lucky enough to boot into it. As I'm typing the system is frozen in the middle of POST. Sometimes it turns on and everything spins up fine but I get nothing on the screen and no HDD activity.

The CPU has been overclocked in the past, but not recently.

Does this sound like a dead CPU? To me it does because I can see how hard locks can happen with a faulty CPU. I can also see how with a bad CPU the system would turn on but with no activity of any kind. What I DON'T see happening is the power cycling on and off.
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
I've never seen a CPU "go bad" and still work. Usually it's the board or ram that causes sporadic problems.
 

F1shF4t

Golden Member
Oct 18, 2005
1,583
1
71
RAM and Mainboard are a lot more likely to fail, I'd check them first.
Do you have another cpu to test? Try running memtest.

Cpu wise make sure all the settings are stock in BIOS. The power cycling on and off for p35 and p45 boards usually happened to me when the settings were unstable.
 

fuzzybabybunny

Moderator<br>Digital & Video Cameras
Moderator
Jan 2, 2006
10,455
35
91
Hmmmm... it could be the RAM. I took out two of the sticks and now the comp's working fine. But why would something like RAM cause the computer to not be able to fully power on?

And I really hope it's not the mobo. That would be an absolute pain in the ass to fix.
 

fuzzybabybunny

Moderator<br>Digital & Video Cameras
Moderator
Jan 2, 2006
10,455
35
91
Originally posted by: Gillbot
I've never seen a CPU "go bad" and still work. Usually it's the board or ram that causes sporadic problems.

So a CPU is either completely dead or not at all?
 

Rifter

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
11,522
751
126
pretty much, as far as i have seen and i used to be a computer tech CPU's either work or they dont.
 

ectx

Golden Member
Jan 25, 2000
1,398
0
0
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Hmmmm... it could be the RAM. I took out two of the sticks and now the comp's working fine. But why would something like RAM cause the computer to not be able to fully power on?

yes. I have gone through these many many times.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
64
91
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
So my PC has been pretty messed up. Today while I was just browsing the web it locked up on me, so I restarted, and the power cycles on and off. It turns on, things spin up, but suddenly there's a loss of power before the monitors can even display anything, everything shuts off, it turns on again by itself, spins up, loss of power, cycle repeats.

This is 100% exactly the same sympton and cycling I experienced a couple months ago when my QX6700 died.

I verified the CPU was dead by swapping it out in another rig, same problem.
 

F1shF4t

Golden Member
Oct 18, 2005
1,583
1
71
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Hmmmm... it could be the RAM. I took out two of the sticks and now the comp's working fine. But why would something like RAM cause the computer to not be able to fully power on?

And I really hope it's not the mobo. That would be an absolute pain in the ass to fix.

My asus p5q deluxe had issues with running 4 sticks of ram. Took me a while to configure all the ram timings manually, but now the sticks are even overclocked where before anything over 666mhz made it crash.

Ram is always the biggest pain to fully diagnose and configure. If your mainboard allows you to change advance timing options you could tweak them by trial and error (I have done so with my p5Q deluxe and a while back with DFI Ultra-D and both times it yelded rock solid systems) Prepare to do it for a while though.

First ofcourse makes sure that each stick is good by testing them individually.

EDIT: That is if the RAM is the problem in the first place.
 

Udgnim

Diamond Member
Apr 16, 2008
3,682
124
106
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Q6600
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
8GB Corsair DDR2
7900GT

So my PC has been pretty messed up. Today while I was just browsing the web it locked up on me, so I restarted, and the power cycles on and off. It turns on, things spin up, but suddenly there's a loss of power before the monitors can even display anything, everything shuts off, it turns on again by itself, spins up, loss of power, cycle repeats.

I initially thought that it was a PSU issue - I have a 700W Fortron, but it's getting a bit old, so I went out and bought a 750W Corsair. The same power cycle problem still happens.

Now I get freezes in BIOS and the OS when I'm lucky enough to boot into it. As I'm typing the system is frozen in the middle of POST. Sometimes it turns on and everything spins up fine but I get nothing on the screen and no HDD activity.

The CPU has been overclocked in the past, but not recently.

Does this sound like a dead CPU? To me it does because I can see how hard locks can happen with a faulty CPU. I can also see how with a bad CPU the system would turn on but with no activity of any kind. What I DON'T see happening is the power cycling on and off.

reset your BIOS settings to default

I used to get a lot of power cycling with my Gigabyte mobo because of poor OC settings
 

poohbear

Platinum Member
Mar 11, 2003
2,284
5
81
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
So my PC has been pretty messed up. Today while I was just browsing the web it locked up on me, so I restarted, and the power cycles on and off. It turns on, things spin up, but suddenly there's a loss of power before the monitors can even display anything, everything shuts off, it turns on again by itself, spins up, loss of power, cycle repeats.

This is 100% exactly the same sympton and cycling I experienced a couple months ago when my QX6700 died.

I verified the CPU was dead by swapping it out in another rig, same problem.

erm, if the cpu was dead, how did u manae to get into the web? either they work or they dont. an overclocked/overheated cpu & RAM timings being off are far more common problems with most systems.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
64
91
Originally posted by: poohbear
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
So my PC has been pretty messed up. Today while I was just browsing the web it locked up on me, so I restarted, and the power cycles on and off. It turns on, things spin up, but suddenly there's a loss of power before the monitors can even display anything, everything shuts off, it turns on again by itself, spins up, loss of power, cycle repeats.

This is 100% exactly the same sympton and cycling I experienced a couple months ago when my QX6700 died.

I verified the CPU was dead by swapping it out in another rig, same problem.

erm, if the cpu was dead, how did u manae to get into the web? either they work or they dont. an overclocked/overheated cpu & RAM timings being off are far more common problems with most systems.

:confused:

I have 3 laptops and 6 desktops...why would having one dead CPU prevent me from accessing the internet?
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Originally posted by: poohbear
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
So my PC has been pretty messed up. Today while I was just browsing the web it locked up on me, so I restarted, and the power cycles on and off. It turns on, things spin up, but suddenly there's a loss of power before the monitors can even display anything, everything shuts off, it turns on again by itself, spins up, loss of power, cycle repeats.

This is 100% exactly the same sympton and cycling I experienced a couple months ago when my QX6700 died.

I verified the CPU was dead by swapping it out in another rig, same problem.

erm, if the cpu was dead, how did u manae to get into the web? either they work or they dont. an overclocked/overheated cpu & RAM timings being off are far more common problems with most systems.

:confused:

I have 3 laptops and 6 desktops...why would having one dead CPU prevent me from accessing the internet?

I think they were asking the OP. The OP stated they were having freezing issues.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
64
91
Originally posted by: Gillbot
I think they were asking the OP. The OP stated they were having freezing issues.

Ah, I assumed that because I was quoted by the poster and the poster did not specify "OP" anywhere in their post that this implied their post was directed at my post...that is the point of quoting someone isn't it? :confused: :laugh:

At any rate I'll take your view on it as the most probable explanation, it is the logical explanation.
 
Dec 30, 2004
12,553
2
76
Originally posted by: poohbear
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
So my PC has been pretty messed up. Today while I was just browsing the web it locked up on me, so I restarted, and the power cycles on and off. It turns on, things spin up, but suddenly there's a loss of power before the monitors can even display anything, everything shuts off, it turns on again by itself, spins up, loss of power, cycle repeats.

This is 100% exactly the same sympton and cycling I experienced a couple months ago when my QX6700 died.

I verified the CPU was dead by swapping it out in another rig, same problem.

erm, if the cpu was dead, how did u manae to get into the web? either they work or they dont. an overclocked/overheated cpu & RAM timings being off are far more common problems with most systems.

Idontcare doesn't need a PC to access the internet. He already knows all the information that is available to be known on the internet.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
64
91
Thanks to wireless telecommunications, the internet, or parts of it at least, runs thru most everyone's heads. Those hardlink cranium connections in the matrix were so so 20th century :laugh: Wet-ware wifi ftw.
 
Dec 30, 2004
12,553
2
76
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Thanks to wireless telecommunications, the internet, or parts of it at least, runs thru most everyone's heads. Those hardlink cranium connections in the matrix were so so 20th century :laugh: Wet-ware wifi ftw.

You saying you got telepathy?
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
64
91
Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Originally posted by: Idontcare
Thanks to wireless telecommunications, the internet, or parts of it at least, runs thru most everyone's heads. Those hardlink cranium connections in the matrix were so so 20th century :laugh: Wet-ware wifi ftw.

You saying you got telepathy?

I ain't saying it, but right about now you should be thinking it if I got my mental projections geo-synched properly ;) :laugh: